On Modulational Instability of Turbulent Spectra

The character of the modulational instability of a Langmuir wave packet is usually assumed to be similar to that of the instability of a monochromatic pump Langmuir wave if the width of the packet is small when compared to the rate of the instability. This assumption has been confirmed only for the case corresponding to the “hydrodynamical” development of the modulational instability, i.e., for the case when the phase velocity of the modulational perturbations exceeds the ion thermal velocity. Here we consider the opposite case (when the phase velocity of the modulational perturbations is less than the ion thermal velocity) which corresponds to the “static” development of the instability. We demonstrate that the above assumption is valid for the situation considered.     

Ion sound wave excitation in a plasma under a Langmuir turbulence regime

Ion sound wave excitation in a warm non-relativistic (W_b ≤ 400 eV) electron beam unmagnetized plasma system is studied experimentally. The spectrum of these waves shows two peaks at frequencies of 70 and 230 kHz respectively. The origin of these waves is connected with modulational instability and cavity collapse. We show that the energy of bulk accelerated electrons can explain the measured value of kr_De for high-frequency sound waves. The energy of ion sound waves is not high enough to have an influence on the Langmuir turbulence dynamics.     

Structure formation in turbulence as an instability of effective quantum plasma

Structure formation in turbulence can be understood as an instability of “plasma” formed by fluctuations serving as effective particles. These “particles” are quantumlike in the sense that their wavelengths are non-negligible compared to the sizes of background coherent structures. The corresponding “kinetic equation” describes the Wigner matrix of the turbulent field, and the coherent structures serve as collective fields. This formalism is usually applied to manifestly quantumlike or scalar waves. Here, we show how to systematically extend it to more complex systems using compressible Navier–Stokes turbulence as an example. In this case, the fluctuation Hamiltonian is a five-dimensional matrix operator and diverse modulational modes are present. As an illustration, we calculate these modes for a sinusoidal shear flow and find two modulational instabilities. One of them is specific to supersonic flows, and the other one is a Kelvin–Helmholtz-type instability that is a generalization of the known zonostrophic instability. Our calculations are readily extendable to other types of turbulence, for example, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in plasma.     

On Modulational Interaction of the Lower-Hybrid Drift Oscillations

The general nonlinear equation of the third order in field strength for the lower-hybrid drift waves in inhomogeneous plasma is obtained on the basis of kinetic theory. This equation enables us to describe strong turbulence effects (modulational instability, soliton-like solutions, etc.) as well as weak turbulence effects (decays, scattering). The investigation of the modulational instability of the lower-hybrid drift waves is carried out. It is demonstrated that the development of the lower-hybrid drift wave modulational instability is possible only when the wavevector of the modulational perturbations is less or of the order of the wavevector of the pump wave. The condition on the wave vectors, when the nonlinear response defining the character of the modulational instability is determined by the inhomogeneity effects, is obtained.     

Propagation dynamics of relativistic electromagnetic solitary wave as well as modulational instability in plasmas

By one-dimensional particle-in-cell(PIC) simulations, the propagation and stability of relativistic electromagnetic(EM) solitary waves as well as modulational instability of plane EM waves are studied in uniform cold electron-ion plasmas.The investigation not only confirms the solitary wave motion characteristics and modulational instability theory, but more importantly, gives the following findings. For a simulation with the plasma density 10²³ m^-3 and the dimensionless vector potential amplitude 0.18, it is found that the EM solitary wave can stably propagate when the carrier wave frequency is smaller than 3.83 times of the plasma frequency. While for the carrier wave frequency larger than that, it can excite a very weak Langmuir oscillation, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the transverse electron momentum and may in turn modulate the EM solitary wave and cause the modulational instability, so that the solitary wave begins to deform after a long enough distance propagation. The stable propagation distance before an obvious observation of instability increases(decreases) with the increase of the carrier wave frequency(vector potential amplitude). The study on the plane EM wave shows that a modulational instability may occur and its wavenumber is approximately equal to the modulational wavenumber by Langmuir oscillation and is independent of the carrier wave frequency and the vector potential amplitude.This reveals the role of the Langmuir oscillation excitation in the inducement of modulational instability and also proves the modulational instability of EM solitary wave.     

Kinetic modulational instability of Langmuir turbulence

The envelope modulational instability of a spectrum of random-phase Langmuir waves is examined in the regime where the group velocities are comparable to the ion thermal speed such that the ion kinetic effects are important.     

Solitons in a magnetized relativistic electron-positron plasma

Nonlinear equations for the interaction of the Langmuir wave field and the transverse electromagnetic field in the pulsar magnetosphere are derived. These equations take into account the modulational instability of plasma waves and its decay into two transversal waves.     

Spatial quantum noise in singly resonant second-harmonic generation

We study the spatial distribution of quantum noise in singly resonant second-harmonic generation. Calculations are performed below threshold for spatial modulational instability. For parameters for which the intracavity fields are modulationally stable the spatial spectrum shows maximum squeezing at k=0, whereas under conditions of modulational instability we find maximum squeezing at finite wave number |k|=k(c), where k(c) corresponds to the classical critical wave number.     

Modulational instability in one-dimensional saturable waveguide arrays: Comparison with Kerr nonlinearity

Discrete modulational instability within the first band of uniform one-dimensional waveguide arrays possessing a saturable self-defocusing nonlinearity is investigated in detail within the coupled mode approach. Explicit analytical results for both the threshold and the maximal gain of instability are compared with the corresponding data from waveguide arrays exhibiting Kerr nonlinearity. We find that saturation bounds the interval of existence of discrete modulational instability, stabilizes the frequency region of perturbations around ±π/2 and decreases both gain and critical spatial frequency of perturbations.     

Cavitating Langmuir turbulence in the terrestrial aurora

Langmuir cavitons have been artificially produced in Earth's ionosphere, but evidence of naturally occurring cavitation has been elusive. By measuring and modeling the spectra of electrostatic plasma modes, we show that natural cavitating, or strong, Langmuir turbulence does occur in the ionosphere, via a process in which a beam of auroral electrons drives Langmuir waves, which in turn produce cascading Langmuir and ion-acoustic excitations and cavitating Langmuir turbulence. The data presented here are the first direct evidence of cavitating Langmuir turbulence occurring naturally in any space or astrophysical plasma.     

Modulational instability in a layered Kerr medium: theory and experiment

We present the first experimental investigation of modulational instability in a layered Kerr medium. The particularly interesting and appealing feature of our configuration, consisting of alternating glass-air layers, is the piecewise-constant nature of the material properties, which allows a theoretical linear stability analysis leading to a Kronig-Penney equation whose forbidden bands correspond to the modulationally unstable regimes. We find very good quantitative agreement between theoretical, numerical, and experimental diagnostics of the modulational instability. Because of the periodicity in the evolution variable arising from the layered medium, there are multiple instability regions rather than just one as in a uniform medium.     

The role of lower-hybrid-wave collapse in the auroral ionosphere

In regions where lower-hybrid solitary structures (LHSS) are observed, the character of auroral lower-hybrid turbulence (LHT) (0-20 kHz) is investigated using the amplitude probability distribution of the electric field. The observed probability distributions are accurately described by a Rayleigh distribution with two degrees of freedom. The statistics of the LHT exhibit no evidence of the global modulational instability or self-similar wave collapse. We conclude that nucleation and resonant scattering in preexisting density depletions are the processes responsible for LHSS in auroral LHT.     

Parametric excitation of magnetic electron drift vortex modes by Langmuir waves

A new multi-dimensional parametric interaction coupling Langmuir waves with magnetic electron drift vortex modes is presented. A general dispersion relation for the parametric instabilities is derived, and the growth rates of the decay and modulational instabilities are obtained. The present instabilities can be the source of large-scale magnetic fields near the critical surface of a laser-produced plasma.     

Dissipation of strong Langmuir turbulence in nonisothermal non-Maxwellian plasma

The regime of strong Langmuir turbulence characterized by the plasma nonisothermality and by the presence of an appreciable non-Maxwellian hot-electron component was experimentally studied. Turbulence was excited in the preliminary produced plasma by the relativistic electron beam. Thomson scattering of laser IR radiation served as the main diagnostic method. The spatial spectra of the Langmuir turbulence and of the attendant ion-sound turbulence were studied using Thomson collective scattering. Thomson incoherent scattering was used for studying the plasma electron distribution function and searching for the local dips of plasma density. Stark spectroscopy of turbulent microfields and the method of observation of plasma radiation at the double plasma frequency were also used. Based on the experimental data, the mechanism of Langmuir oscillation damping by plasma electrons was analyzed. The Langmuir wave conversion induced by the ion-sound turbulence is the most probable channel for energy transfer from the turbulence to plasma electrons, the low-frequency fluctuations being the direct consequence of the strong Langmuir turbulence.     

3/2omega0 radiation from the laser-driven two-plasmon decay instability in an inhomogeneous plasma

We present the results of the first reduced model simulations of the nonlinear development of the two-plasmon decay instability in an inhomogeneous plasma, including properties of the 3/2 harmonic emission. A sharp increase in radiation and Langmuir turbulence fluctuation levels occurs above a threshold laser intensity that depends on initial fluctuation levels. We study the competition between the linear propagation of Langmuir waves in the density gradient and the nonlinear saturation due to the Langmuir decay instability. The secondary decay Langmuir waves can provide the dominant source of the radiation and are essential to explain experiments.     

多光子非线性Compton散射对激光等离子体中强朗缪尔湍动谱的影响

 基于电子与多光子集团非线性Compton散射模型,研究了多光子非线性Compton散射对激光等离子体中强缪尔湍动谱的影响,提出了将入射光和散射光作为形成强缪尔湍动的新机制,给出了横等离激元、强朗缪尔激元和离声激元之间相互作用满足的修正方程,并进行了数值模拟.结果表明:Compton散射使横等离激元和朗缪尔激元间的碰撞频率大大增加,随着时间的演化,横等离激元和朗缪尔激元的能量由小波数区向大波数区的转移比散射前要快得多,同时产生剧烈的坍塌.坍塌后期,等离激元的强非线性作用激发出高次共振谐波,使能量从一个谐波转移到另一个谐波,形成无限高次谐波,引起波的破碎,出现由调制不稳定性控制的强朗缪尔湍动、较强的激光成丝和能量均分现象.研究结果为进一步研究强朗缪尔湍动的加速机制、反常碰撞、激光加热实验及快点火实验提供了理论支持.     

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基于多光子非线性Compton散射模型,研究了Compton散射下等离子体中强朗缪尔湍动对调制不稳定性的影响。将入射光和Compton散射光作为形成强朗缪尔湍动和调制不稳定性的新机制,给出了强朗缪尔湍动、色散和调制不稳定性时间增长率所满足的修正方程,并进行了数值模拟。结果表明,与Compton散射前相比,Compton散射使等离子体内产生了更为剧烈的坍塌,坍塌后期形成的强朗缪尔湍动,使等离子体界面附近的调制不稳定性的时间增长率显著增大,调制不稳定性发展得更快,光场峰值增加得更强,并使整体激光场出现明显的成丝现象。     

Relativistic and nonrelativistic modulational instability of a laser radiation in an unmagnetized laser-produced plasma: Kinetic theory

Summary This paper presents a rigorous theoretical investigation of the relativistic and nonrelativistic modulational instability of a high-power laser radiation propagating in a collisionless and unmagnetized laser-produced plasma. The kinetic equationviz. the relativistic Vlasov equation has been employed to find the nonlinear response of electrons for this four-wave parametric process in the plasma. The actual motivation behind this theoretical investigation is to find the relativistic effect on this four-wave paremetric processviz. the modulational instability. Here, it can be noted that the modulational instability of the laser radiation under our situation has not a large but considerable relativistic effect and for the same set of plasma parameters the growth rate of the instability in ultrarelativistic consideration is approximately three times higher than that in the nonrelativistic consideration. The authors of this paper have agreed to not rective the proofs for correction.     

Excitation of Langmuir and Ion–Acoustic Turbulence in the High-Latitude Ionosphere by a High-Power HF Radio Wave Simultaneously Below and Above the F2-Layer Maximum

Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics - We present the results of experimental studies of the generation peculiarities and features of the Langmuir and ion–acoustic turbulence in the F region...